Originally published 12/14/18
A study by First Round found that -surprise- there is a huge amount of age discrimination among investors in startups. In retrospect, could this age discrimination have something to do with the high failure rate of startups?
You're 46? Age bias in tech starts early.
What is investors' strongest bias? Your age.
37% of founders believe startup investors bias against founders based on age (compared to 28% on gender and 26% on race).
A whopping 89% of respondents agree that older people face age discrimination in the tech industry generally.
And "older" doesn't mean octogenarians: On average, founders think tech industry ageism starts at 46 years old.
They were also wrong about China
39% say China will be the center of tech in 2028.
China has added 500 million new internet users in the past decade. It now boasts nine of the world's 20 biggest tech companies by market cap, according to Mary Meeker's 2018 internet trends report. (The other 11 are in the U.S.)
When asked about the decade to come, nearly 40% of founders predict that China will occupy the center of the tech world in 2028. However, over 50% say the center will be in the U.S. Less than 5% think it will be anywhere else.